Fish species
Slovenia Fly Fishing Species
Fly Fishing centre Fauna Bled will assist you on your special flyfishing Quest! We think that for every visiting fly fisherman, a country he is about to visit should be having a kind of i.d. fish card, which the visiting fisherman could be checking out and deciding if those are the species he would be targeting or not.. Well, here is our Slovenian Fish ID card with three of the most famous species anglers would like to catch – Danube Salmon (Hucho-Hucho), European Grayling (Thymallus-Thymallus) and Marble Trout (Salmo trutta Marmoratus). Contact us any time and our Fauna Bled flyfishing Team will be most willing to help you!
Grayling (Thymallus-thymallus)
Wikipedia says; The grayling (Thymallus thymallus) is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae. It is the only species of the genus Thymallus (the graylings) native to Europe, where it is widespread from the United Kingdom and France to the Ural Mountains in Russia, but does not occur in the southern parts of the continent.
In readers more friendly language; Grayling is a very appreciated fly fishing specie, since it mostly feeds on insects and many times becomes very selective with that.. lots of skills are needed if you find a feeding grayling and it decides that a bug he is after must be tie down on the hook size 24! Once hooked, Grayling fights very well, many times performing spectacular jumps and fast runs down the stream.. Mostly smaller flies should be used if you target the Grayling, either dry or nymph.. Fluorocarbon leaders and tippet material is a must if facing a clear water river which are usually a home of this magnificent fish. Not growing more than 56-58cm is not among the largest fish species of Slovenia, but is surely among most beautiful ones, especially because male Grayling owns a beautiful flag-like dorsal fin. Most famous Slovenian rivers to fish for the Grayling: Unica river, Sava river, Soca river, Idrijca river
Fishing season for the Grayling: May – November
Marble Trout (Salmo Truta marmoratus)
Wikipedia says: Salmo marmoratus (marble trout) is a species of freshwater fish in the Salmonidae family. It is characterised by a distinctive marbled color pattern and high growth capacity. The marble trout is found in only three basins and two rivers of the Adriatic sea basin. Its average size is 30–70 cm. The largest specimen in Slovenia was a 117 cm and 24 kg female (found dead), largest living specimen caught was 120 cm and 22.5 kg. There are reports of individuals weighing up to 30 kg.
What would a Fly Fisherman say; Catching a Marble Trout is in fact almost the same as if going for a Brown Trout.. a couple of hundred thousand years ago, they were one and the same fish specie.. As a smaller Marble Trout is often caught with a nymph or dry fly, larger ones prefer a bigger meals – other fish or bull heads if possible! Marble Trout can not be found in any Slovenian river.. only the one that outflow into the Adriatic sea will have a Marble Trout in their ripples and pools.. (Soca river and her tributaries Lepena, Koritnica, Baca, Idrijca river with her tributaries, Rizana river, and few other, less known streams of Slovenia).
When Fly fishing for the Marble Trout, keep an eye on the insect activity on the river you fly fish: a small hatch can trigger the Marble Trout to go feeding on the surface while before she was sitting down deep, showing no real intention for the passing nymphs, drifting dries or streamer.. the fish can be quite fastidious and also very careful in feeding especially if you fish the popular fly fishing areas, with many anglers during the duration of the fly fishing season April – October. If you go for a Trophy sized Marble Trout, which snatches for a small nymph maybe only once in a week – streamer will have to be a choice of yours.. And if it happens that you are on the river when it starts to rise after a longer period of the low levels – a catch is almost guaranteed! Big Marble is on the top of a food chain in the river she dwells – a rainy or a bit smoky water colour helps her to come closer to their pray – other fish more successfully – that guarantees better option that the attack will be a success – simple logic, but it works. Remember – big marble comes out on the first few hours when the river has start to rise up the levels! Once the river is in a longer period of high level – forget.. Marble already caught her meal and is again down deep under her favourite rock.. More luck the next time.
Marble Trout can cross-breed with the Brown trout.. offspring are called Marble crossbreed.. beautiful marble skinned fish with red specks coming from the brown trout parent.. but the crossbreed are sterile and can not reproduce further. If you see one single red dot on the supposedly Marble trout caught – uups, you got a cross breed one.. but it still counts the same.
Marble Trout fishing season: April – October
Brown Trout (Salmo trutta fario)
At this point we will not be asking a wikpied. what she saying about the Brown Trout, since every fly fisherman most likely has this Trout in his home river. World wide fly fishing specie inspiring Fly fisherman with their numerous skin variations and even shapes of the body! We believe Brown Trout is a mother of fly fishing since most likely the first ever artificial fly landing on the surface of some middle age lake or river was taken exactly by – brown Trout!
In Slovenia, Brown Trout can be found in most of the rivers. The sad truth about that is, that because of the expanding dominion of a rainbow Trout, Brown is more and more pushed in the smaller streams and rivers, where it can get more shelter and living space. Rizana, Radovna, upper areas of Idrijca, Unica and the canyons of the Sava Bohinjka is where you would most likely catch a Brown trout before the rainbow one.
Brown Trout deciding to go on the feeding move, she will most likely be searching for a larger bait – fat juicy sedge on the last minute of the day – sure catch! Large May fly under the overcasting tree – sure catch! Streamers of all type – give them a chance but if possible very early in the morning or late afternoon.. during the day time Brown Trout prefers to stay down low, or even in some rock-hole not exposing their position to the potential predator.. and they are very good in doing that! Brown Trout can gain in size significantly – larger one caught in the Sava Bohinjka was around 90cm and she toke the lure which was cast to catch the Hucho!
Brown Trout fishing season: March – September
The rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Is a trout and species of salmonid, native to cold-water rivers and also some Slovenian lakes. This very common Fly fishing specie is maybe not enough appreciated due to the more famous Brown Trout, Marble Trout, Grayling etc.. But who of us would reject a strong take of the dry fly and a screaming fly reel pulled down the stream by a big Rainbow trout? Nobody. If you are more of the beginner, or first time on some Slovenian river, this is probably the first specie you will be catching and releasing. Rainbow trout is able to reproduce themselves and you might come across some very beautiful skin patterns – depending of the river you are fly fishing at.. Rainbow Trout can be caught as much as with nymph, dries, streamer, egg patterns – you name it – she`ll take it! BUT – at the right time only! On the catch and release areas, Rainbows can become pretty well skilled and will reject your favourite fly if not presented on the right way or not being tied on the leader light enough!
The largest and the most wild Rainbow Trout in Slovenia can be found on some power station lakes, where you target them from the belly boats. Wild `bows will grow up to 80cm and will take a good half an hour of strong drill before you would be landing them! See our Fishing Guides page for more details!
Rainbow Trout fishing season: March – end November
Hucho Hucho (Salmon danube)
This could be a whole new chapter to write about and in fact, on our upper menu, you will find a dedicated content about this magnificent and noble Land-locked Salmon, some times called also European Taimen. Hucho-hucho is a typical winter time fishing specie or a largest calibre! Since Hucho-hucho is the top food chain ruler of the river he lives at, not many can be present on a mile length if we can say so. Yes, that makes them hard to catch and every catch means an angler`s personal trophy!
If you are about to go Fly fishing or spin fishing for the Hucho-Hucho, prepare yourself for a bit different fishing than you usually do during the summer season. Here is where the man separate from the boys.. Harsh winter condition on the Sava Bohinjka, Sava, Sava Dolinka or some other less famous Hucho-hucho fishing streams will offer beautiful nature but to-the-bone cold too.. For more details please press the Huchen Fishchen menu on the top of this page..
Hucho-Hucho fishing season: November – February 15th.
